True. I myself didn't pursue an academic career because I didn't want to preach to like-minded individuals in Ivory Towers.
The only solution I see is "intellectuals" (whatever field they're in) going into the media, in whatever form. Ricky Gervais for instance studied philosophy and biology, and yet he's spreading his message to the masses. In ancient Greece there wasn't such a big divide between the people who "thought" and those who didn't. That's because the Greek theater was there to close that divide. The modern intellectuals have relinquished control of his omnipotent weapon to the demagogues, and they're paying for it now. That's partly because an intellectual is by his nature shy and withdrawn: not all scientists can suddenly go Bill Nye or Carl Sagal or Neil Degrasse Tyson on your ass! There's a lot to be done, but mostly I think religion is the first thing that needs to go away, because that's primarily (I think) the thing that keeps most people in one camp, closing their ears to whatever the other camp has to say. They don't want to listen to the educated, if educated = atheist.
I agree on most of your points. Especially on media bridging the gap between the "elite" and the people. Thats why I think steemit has such a potential, but its also dangerous because information on steemit is seen as valuable if the community likes it. But if you have a uneducated community = uneducated information being appreciated. And yes, most scientists are shy and withdrawn but they need to work on opening up towards people to bridge this gap!
Very well put.